Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Veronica Mars or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.
Here's the next chapter, and please remember that I love to hear from the wonderful people who read my stories.
Enjoy!
Chapter 11
As so many cases of post natal depression did, Meg's struggle went unnoticed, or if it was ever noticed, it was dismissed as baby blues, stress, or just a bad day, for months it went on like that.
To Meg it seemed like baby Lucas never slept, he cried around the clock, and after five weeks being trapped in her own personal hell, Meg was nearing the end of her tether.
Duncan had not come home in over a week, instead staying at the hospital with Ashlee, who wasn't recovering from the transplant as hoped; in contrast Meg had only made it into the hospital half a dozen times since Lucas' birth.
All Meg's days held was feeding Lucas, changing Lucas, putting Lucas down in his portacot, crying in the hallway outside the bedroom, a half empty bottle of tequila beside her, her hands clasped over her ears, trying to block out Lucas' tiny screams.
The isolation, the stress of having a newborn, and having no support because everyone was too busy looking after Ashlee, it got to Meg, and sometimes she would beg him to sleep, other times Meg would find herself crying as Lucas did, or simply leaving him to cry, and breaking down in another room.
Veronica tried to be there for Meg and Duncan, but having Daniel and work made it difficult, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out how her father and Duncan had been able to be there for her as much as they were when she was pregnant on hospital bedrest, and then when Daniel was in the NICU.
Still despite all the difficulties, Veronica made a point of driving to San Diego at least once a week to visit her friends, who stayed there with Ashlee for a total of eight and a half months.
The visits would usually be on a Saturday afternoon after Veronica finished up work at the Java Hut, Daniel would have to stay back in Neptune with his grandpa, as children under the age of twelve were not allowed to visit 'Panda Ward', too many infections that would be hazardous to the young patients.
The ward was always a hive of activity, between staff and family members, for the first four and a half months Duncan and Meg would usually meet Veronica at the lifts, they would go downstairs for a coffee while a nurse sat with Ashlee, to catch each other up on their lives, then while Duncan and Meg went back to the apartment for a break, Veronica would go back upstairs, and there she would spend a couple of hours with Ashlee, entertaining her until Duncan and Meg returned. After the baby was born, things changed, for nearly a month Ashlee was in the paediatric intensive care unit, and while Duncan refused to leave her side, Meg, as far as Veronica could tell was never there, Veronica would bring two cups of coffee in with her, one for her, one for Duncan, and they would spend hours sitting by Ashlee's bed, just talking, they both missed when the times they'd had together, and in future years they would see that it was this time that led to the inevitable.
Even after that, as Ashlee was recovering, Veronica could tell that something was off, but Duncan convinced her it was nothing, maybe he was trying to convince himself that everything was fine.
Two weeks after Meg and Duncan moved back to Neptune with both their young children, Meg's struggle came to a peak. Ashlee had been up half the night, just unsettled from the move, Lucas had cried right alongside his big sister for hours. It was just past nine in the morning, Duncan should have left for work close to two hours ago, but he could see that Meg was in no state to be left alone with two kids for the day, even if from three thirty onwards she would have Grace there to help, she was a wreck.
"I can't do this anymore, Dunk!"
"What are you talking about Meg? What's going on with you? Ever since Lucas was born, you aren't yourself."
Meg sat down on a nearby couch, and buried her head in her hands, crying as she said, "I don't know, I just feel so bad, all the time. I can't do anything right anymore! Ash's been so sick, I haven't been there for her, 'cause I had to take care of Lucas, and I can't even get that right! He never stops crying, and... and... I just can't take it anymore."
Duncan quickly closed the distance between himself and his girlfriend, both literally and figuratively, and he held her in his arms as she cried, offering her the comfort she had been longing for so desperately.
The following days were rocky for the Manning-Kane household, Meg didn't get out of bed, and Duncan spent his time between comforting her and caring for the kids, after two days of hell on earth, Lizzie, who had moved onto campus at Hearst when her sister and Duncan came home, offered for Grace, Ashlee and Lucas to stay with her for awhile. Meg didn't want to send the kids away, it cut her deep, but she knew that she was no good to them how she was, she was depressed and she knew that she'd been drinking way too much.
With her loving partner by her side, Meg checked into a private psychiatric clinic the next day, she wanted her life back.
Slowly their lives returned to normal, well as close to normal as their lives could be, Meg spent seven weeks in the clinic before returning home, she still sees a councillor every week, Ashlee had to have maintenance chemotherapy for a further six months before she was declared to be in remission. It still brought tears to Duncan and Meg's eyes as they watched their now healthy three year old girl, who they came too close to losing, sitting in the middle of the living room, entertaining young Lucas.
Again, life could not stay good forever, but this... Veronica and Duncan never meant for this to happen.
It was two years since the cord blood transplant, and Ashlee was still in remission. Meg had worked through her depression, and was back to her old bright, bubbly self, and she was pregnant again; she had taken Grace and the kids to visit her aunt in Seattle, while Duncan had to stay in Neptune for work.
It was the week before school started, Ashlee and Daniel were starting kindergarten, they were so excited to finally be going to "big school" otherwise known as North Neptune Elementary School.
Veronica had only recently found an apartment for her and Daniel, it was just four streets from Meg and Duncan's, the unexpected increase in Logan's monthly checks had made it possible to buy into the 09er district. There was even a small park for kids.
If not for the nice upswing in the monthly check that from Logan that she relied on too heavily, there was no way that Veronica could offer Daniel all the advantages that Meg and Duncan could provide their children, not on the insult of a pay check she got from her waitress job at the Hut.
But that's beside the point.
Veronica had just finished work, and she was on her way to pick up Daniel from the daycare at Kane software, it was Duncan's idea to have daycare facilities, but it was a good one.
Then, quite literally ran into her ex-boyfriend, Duncan in the hallway.
He looked so different in his business suit, the CEO of a fortune five-hundred company at just twenty-three years of age.
He looked hot, in Veronica's eyes he'd always been hot, beautiful, she had loved him since she was fifteen, and even though he was now married to her friend, and had fathered two children to his wife, Veronica still loved Duncan, they had an undeniable connection, that they had denied for years, until now.
Stunned by the sudden impact, Veronica began to fall, but Duncan caught her with ease.
"Where's the fire?" Duncan joked lightly as he helped the petite blonde to her feet.
"Duncan. Sorry, I'm meant to be taking Danny to Dad's for the night, work was so busy, I couldn't get away, we're running so late. And the car's still out of order, so I had to take the bus."
Veronica was dead on her feet, she was exhausted, and the stress of supporting her son was threatening to overwhelm her.
Duncan saw her exhaustion, he knew that the burden, the stress she carried was to do with her son, most likely him starting school, that on top of the day to day crap was enough to wear anyone out.
Duncan took Veronica's bag off of her shoulder, to carry it himself, before he offered, "Here, let me. I'll give you a lift, save you taking the bus."
Veronica accepted his offer gratefully, Duncan walked with Veronica as he called his secretary to cancel his meetings for the remainder of the day, and they left the office soon after with Daniel in tow.
Duncan drove Veronica and Daniel over to Keith's apartment, but only Daniel stayed there, Veronica told her father that she just needed a break, and he accepted that. What it was they could not say, but soon after Duncan and Veronica found themselves in the master bedroom of Duncan and Meg's home, stripping off each other's clothes, rediscovering each other, tasting the forbidden fruit.
It was as though they were back in high school again, they were together, their lives were just starting, the thought of a being a parent had not even crossed their minds yet, of course they knew it was wrong, but god it felt so right.
The fallout from their night together was inevitable though; the former couple were consumed by guilt over what they had done.
Meg returned two days later, and while Veronica and Duncan had tried like hell to keep it from her, Meg wasn't stupid, and when she found a misplaced bra under her marital bed, a bra that wasn't hers, sexy black and red lace, it didn't take her long to figure it out. They were busted.
Meg knew that whilst Duncan was married to her and he cared about her, if it hadn't have been for Ashlee, Meg knew that Veronica and Duncan would still be together.
She sat on her bed, holding the bra in her hands, surrounded by smiling pictures of her family, Duncan and their babies, family holidays, opening presents on Christmas morning, debating what to do next.
She didn't want to just let Duncan off the hook, part of her just wanted to slap him.
But finally after much soul searching, Meg made her choice, to let it go, and protect her marriage, her children, but she did mail the incriminating evidence to Veronica, just letting her know that she knew.
TBC...
